Blair 'assures US of quiet support' on missile shield

By Toby Harnden in Washington

12:01AM BST 10 Aug 2001

TONY BLAIR has told President Bush that he supports American plans for a missile defence shield but cannot say so publicly for fear of further alienating Labour Left-wingers, according to a senior US official.

The White House is content to accept the Prime Minister's private word for the time being, but has indicated that more open backing will be needed later in the year when Mr Bush intends to give six months' notice of American withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

"Tony Blair has told us his political situation within the Labour Party is very difficult and he needs to deal with the Left," said the official. "But he has said that, ultimately, it will not be a big issue. Britain will support us."

The official said Russian generals indicated during Pentagon talks this week that they "understand the ABM treaty is history", despite President Putin's unswerving opposition in public to its abandonment.

Mr Bush's advisers were heartened by comments from Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, in the journal Tribune. He went much further than Robin Cook, his predecessor, in supporting the missile defence plans.

In his column, Mr Straw rejected the arguments of Labour MPs opposed to missile defence. Russia was no longer an enemy, but "rogue states" such as Iraq, North Korea, Iran and Libya posed real threats, he wrote.

"Who opposed MAD (mutually assured destruction) in the Cold War and prefer it now to missile defence?" he asked. "The answer is some of those who say we should have nothing to do with missile defence. It's not a very convincing position."

There was little of substance in the column that Mr Bush would have rejected had his own speechwriters drafted it for him.

Mr Straw made a positive impression on a Washington trip last month. "He was less preachy, less of a showboat and less given to the grandiloquent statement than Robin Cook," said the official.

Although the official cautioned that discussion with the Russians on what might replace the ABM treaty had scarcely begun, he said it was notable that the generals had been "more realistic" than some European governments, which were wedded to the idea that the treaty was a cornerstone of international stability.

"Some in Europe look at these treaties as if they are big blocks of stone, but in reality they are no more secure that the interests of the countries themselves."

The Pentagon talks with the Russian generals were the first round of a series of intensive consultations between Washington and Moscow.

Next week, Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, travels to Russia, and in September Igor Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, will hold talks with Colin Powell, his American counterpart, in New York.

Mr Bush will then meet Mr Putin in Shanghai in October a month before a summit of the two leaders in Texas.

It would be at this stage, the official said, that the Russians would have to choose whether to support US missile defence plans, because further testing could not be carried out without breaching the ABM treaty.